winning_by_losing

Dr Chae did my bypass last February and while I don't have any other bariatric surgeons to compare him to - he did what I consider a great job for me. Since I'm with Kaiser and he is only contracted, all of my follow-up beyond the first week has been with Kaiser docs/nurses, the pre/during/post with him was a good experience. I know there are a couple of others who regularly attend the support group meetings, so if you have more specific questions about the experience with Dr. Chae, I will be happy to share more, just as I'm sure the others will.

Www.musclegen.net

We sure are. 6:00PM at the Broomfield Public Library. Tonight's meeting we're sharing Before/After photos and talking about our struggles and triumphs.

My surgeon cleared me at 4 weeks to resume lifting. Hopefully you have a one month checkup with your surgical team and they should be able to determine if you're ready or not. I wouldn't consider it before then as my team told me the stomach takes 4-6 weeks to fully heal.

I'm far from a vet (especially since we're not even supposed to post in this forum unless we're over a year removed from surgery), however... I actually had my doc cancel my 6 month appointment. I got my blood work done and then about 3 days later received an email that unless I had specific concerns there was no need to come in for my appointment.

My back pain has only started to ease up in the last couple of weeks. I've had problems for many years, but had been told numerous times that losing weight would resolve it. After 8 months and losing over 200 lbs, I'm finally starting to believe some of it. It definitely hasn't gone away and I don't imagine that happening any time soon, but it isn't near as debilitating as it used to be and seems much more bearable now, so I'm just hoping things continually get better as time goes by.

I'm pretty sure, like so much else, this is going to differ for everyone. I had no change in nose (and since it was brought up, no change in my feet either).

I've only seen Unjury in powder form. Where did you find it already premade?

I buy the Pure Protein from Vitamin Shoppe. They sell the cans individually to experiment with, but also in cases which brings the cost down a bit. I believe they also have them at GNC too.

My fave by far is the strawberry Premier Protein. A pretty close 2nd is the banana Pure Protein. A few others that aren't bad, just not my top choice include: vanilla Premier Protein Cookies and Cream Pure Protein Strawberry Pure Protein Beyond these, I've tried all others that are available in retail stores around here (GNC, Muscle Milk, Atkins, Weight Watchers, Isopure, Myoplex, LeanBody, ISS, HydroxyCut) and they all either have too little protein to keep me feeling full more than 2 hours or the taste is so bad I can't choke them down. Unfortunately though, like so much else with this journey, all of our tastes are different. There are plenty of others on here who say they can't stand the ones that I love, etc...

After some heavy duty searching, I finally found a little information that this may just be a side-effect of losing so much weight. Any others frequently experience plugged ears? Of course I always have had it happen when heading up to the mountains or flying, but it seems now that it just comes on while sitting at my desk, exercising, or any other number of random times. I don't have allergies, haven't been sick since surgery almost 7 months ago, yet am dealing with trying to unplug my ears every day or every other day. The old tricks of yawning, pulling on my lobes, drinking Water etc... just don't help any more. Anyone have a magic cure?

My surgeon told me that we are fully healed at 4 weeks (so you're almost there). This is the reason my program had such a gradual progression in foods: 1 week of Clear liquids 1 week of full liquids 1 week of purees 4 weeks of soft & mushy During my pre-surgery classes the nutritionist warned of people hurting themselves with breads, pizza, chips, toast, carbonation etc... They also warned about seeds getting stuck in the stitches (from nuts as well as seedy fruits) causing major infections etc...Similar issues were described for lettuce, broccoli, celery and other stringy veggies. I'm not sure what your program recommends as far as your diet is concerned, but I'd be sure to stick to it strictly and you should be just fine.

If you're on the north side of Denver, there are two support groups that I regularly attend. One of them is through Kaiser, though they are open to anyone (I believe most who show up are non-Kaiser folks). It is moderated by an Exempla nurse from St. Josephs and typically meets the last Wednesday of every month at Exempla Good Samaritan. The next meeting is the 29th @ 4:30 The other is actually a Bariatric Pal group. That one typically meets the 2nd Monday of every month in Broomfield at the Mamie Doud Eisenhower library @ 6:00. Here's a link to the thread about it: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/303740-co-denver/ But as to the original subject, I also found a thread with a couple of Co Springs people looking for a group too: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/309864-co-colorado-springs-area/ As well as a South Denver specific one: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/309185-co-south-denver-aurora-parker-areas/

To answer the original question, I would say the tight shirt would be less offensive as a whole. Yes, you may have some women seeing it as an attempt to use sexuality for preference with the men, you may even get some of that, however, I'm purely looking at it from an overall perspective. Now before any ladies turn on me because I'm a guy... Personally, I love a lady with some ink, so my personal preference would go against my thought above. I'd much rather see your artwork than the skin-tight shirt.

In addition to the above, there are potential issues for us who've had RNY where flushing the food too quickly into the intestines can cause issues. I can't recall the official term for it, but essentially the food isn't broken down enough for the intestines to handle it yet, so there can be issues that range from mild dumping to more severe stuff.

When I started the process I saw 2 options. 1 - Tell nobody and just work with HR for FMLA. 2 - Be open about it and work with my boss to figure out what would work best for me. I opted for #2 and am very glad I did. Had I gone the FMLA route, my surgeon told me he would not clear me for work until 6 weeks out regardless of my progress (legality). While I know technically something like this isn't supposed to affect your status at work, it definitely would have for me. Who knows what I'd have walked back into 6 weeks later. I instead chose to explain what I was having done, the "expected" post-surgery process as well as potential options. We came up with an agreement that I'd take PTO for a week, work from home for 2 more weeks then return to normal (with the exception of the appointments, support group meetings, etc...). This allowed me to have a clear conscious while recovering and when I was able to get my life back to normal earlier than expected, they were happy to adjust. I know everyone has their reasoning for who they tell and why, but just figured I'd share my experience. If you want to keep it all secret, as already mentioned, legally they cannot ask you for details as long as you work with HR and the process they have in place.

I started having similar issues about the 100 pound mark. Unfortunately since then it has only gotten worse. Now I deal with the tailbone issue as well as having no fat on my 'cheeks' to pad me from hard seating surfaces. Luckily my commute is only 50 miles so I'm only in the car about 3 hours a day, but I feel your pain (literally). After about 45 minutes I start shifting side to side, up and down just trying to survive until I get there. I've not found anything yet that helps, but am anxiously awaiting other responses to see if people have found anything that works.

I'd recommend telling the dentist. I told mine long before my surgery as I have been open about it with everyone. However - afterwards, it was particularly important because the changes to my body affected my gums. He told me had I not had the surgery he'd have been extremely concerned, but since he knew I'd had the surgery he knew it was a side effect of that and prescribed some special mouthwash and advised me to watch for it to clear up. If you want to keep the surgery private longer, I'd just ask the dentist to help keep it quiet.

I wouldn't go purely based on the number of times, but as already mentioned the color/odor. I have never had issues getting in my fluids, as I usually have had at least 64oz by noon, however there are days I'll visit the restroom 2 or 3 times and others 10+ times. But as already mentioned, it is crucial that you get the fluids and the Protein. Without either, you'll be losing slower and potentially causing other issues (especially the dehydration).

I swiped a Frito from my daughter's plate last weekend with lunch. I was happy that it didn't cause me any issues, but sad that I didn't resist the temptation.

As already mentioned, I'd heavily recommend sticking with what has been working so far and bump up the exercise as much as you can tolerate. Any lean muscle you build now will help increase your metabolism and help you lose faster post-surgery. Since we tend to lose lots of muscle along with the fat along that journey, the more muscle you have going in, the better off you'll be. While I was going through my pre-surgery classes I started practicing everything they taught. I gave up the caffeine months before I had to, stopped drinking with meals, started making meals take the 20-30 minutes, increased the length of my workouts, etc... I really feel those early changes helped me a ton so that once I had the surgery I was already somewhat accustomed to the new lifestyle and it wasn't a big shock. I also attribute hitting my goal at just under 7 months out to being so strict with the plan both pre and post-surgery. Not that there is any scientific research behind it, but I know quite a few of the folks in my classes had "food funerals" and "last meals" etc... and the few that have attended support group meetings have complained about how slowly they are losing after surgery.

How many days are you talking about? In the classes leading up to my surgery they warned us about this and said after 3 days to take something and after 5 days to call the doctor. On the flip side - you're getting used to it. After surgery it is very common to be down to twice a week.

Best of luck with your journey. Trying not to be a buzzkill, but you may want to think twice about posting something like this on the internet. It would suck big time for your insurance company to find your post and come after you for fraud.

I tried that and it didn't help. I even consulted my lawyer about it and they told me I had no case. In the end, it cost me less than a new car and I couldn't be happier with my new life, so I've moved on. I just wish I'd have known sooner so I could have done self-pay and saved some money.

From what I was told the reasoning for the clear liquid diet is to calm everything down in the intestines. I don't know the terminology for it all, but something to do with making it easier to cut and reattach without issues. I wish you the best, but I'd recommend being honest with the staff when you go in so they can prepare and treat you accordingly.